“Labor believes the benefits of
musical education should be available to all Australian students. We will
support more schools introducing children to the arts through the joy of music.

A Shorten Labor Government will provide $2
million a year to expand successful school music programs such as Music: Count
Us In, Musica Viva in Schools and the Song Room. We will also invest $350,000 a
year to continue the SongMakers program beyond 2017.”

We welcome the Shorten Labor Party aspiration!Great news that the ‘joy of music’ will be
afforded to ‘all Australian students’.

PUBLIC SERVICE TEACHERS

To achieve this, we would respectfully
implore that a Labor commitment is met with the same measure as the proposed
investment in public service to STEM subjects.Investment in strategic oversight, a mandatory P - 8 sequential, continuous
and developmental program, delivered by expertly trained music teachers working
as Public service, school employed teachers is the only way to deliver on this
vision. Schools must be mandated to provide a protected 50 - 60 minute session
for the vision to become reality.

While we appreciate an injection into the Private Music
Education business providers, it is only through full time teacher employment
in a school, that real transformational change can occur.In this way, the teacher as central becomes
the foundation upon which Incursion providers may extend student engagement. Tertiary level training must be comprehensive and fully funded.

While we appreciate the ability for Private Music Education
business providers to reach remote locations of Australia, for those services
to be successful, broadband internet must be bolstered. We reiterate, that the
best way to gain meaningful, generational change in Music Education delivery is
to provide vibrant, engaging, and expertly trained specialist teachers,
employed as public servants.

We must put a stop to the
inequity in Australia. Music has many benefits for all learners and
communities. Training teachers is the most effective and efficient method.Providing tertiary level music specialisation
is imperative, with adequate time allocations.Currently, tertiary institutions only allow minimal time allocations to
undergrad teachers in The Arts.Tertiary
music education needs an investment in time allocation, delivered as a
stand-alone subject.

Teacher registration bodies must also begin to
implement the recommendations of the NRSME (2005) and the Victorian Inquiry
(2013).We must push back on a tertiary
system that lumps the arts together.Teachers
must develop deep pedagogical and content knowledge in music,
as it is such a specialist area.We have
examples of undergraduate students, who due to the inequitable access to effective
sequential and developmental music learning, have little to no
knowledge of the fundamental elements of music.

Music education builds learning power (Claxton,
2007) and cultivates more than the ability to regurgitate facts and figures, it
develops thinking, resilience, persistence, resourcefulness, reflectiveness and
reciprocity (Claxton 2013). We need music education to be adequately funded as
a stand alone subject from P – 8, and at tertiary level, for these outcomes as
well as for the joy of making music.

Our many followers, readers,
colleagues, patrons, ambassadors and affiliates would be pleased to hear any
clarification around your Music Education policy.We
attach our previous letter, and repeat here:

ACTIONS FORWARD FOR ANY CANDIDATE

sMAG would
offer its support to the a future Shorten government should it commit to implementing the various report recommendations
if elected to office later this year.

Reform of
music education in all Australian schools will ensure the best possible
educational outcomes for Victorian state school students and we ask you to
assist by:

·Advocating for the adoption of the various
review recommendations in your party room

·Ensuring through parliamentary
process that the Shorten government implements the NRSME, and TEMAG
recommendations while it remains in office

·Supporting the inclusion of specific
references to music education provision and quality in future Labor education
policy

·Becoming an advocate for music
education reform within parliament so that ‘top tier’ educational outcomes for
Australian students are achieved

·Supporting the establishment of a
Ministerial Advisory Committee to assist Government and the Department in the implementation
of the long term recommendations

·Researching music education reform
opportunities amongst schools in your electorate so that your constituents may
benefit from these initiatives and reforms

·Supporting the inclusion of music
education reform in the Shorten 2016 election platform and in future education
policies

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ANY ELECTED
GOVERNMENT

sMAG recommends that whether in government or
the Senate, The Labor Party commits to;

·Universal provision of music education
in Australian schools from P-8 by the start 2022 academic year - five years to
allow for pre service training of music education specialists. Public service teachers provide long term
investment in schools, working in communities over decades.

·Ensuring that the Wiltshire/Donnelly
recommendation that Music be delivered as a stand-alone subject is implemented
into the Australian Curriculum, and that the Australian Curriculum provides a
sequential, continuous and developmental pathway for all students from P – 8,
delivered by an expertly trained, specialist teacher.

·Creating and promoting a national quality/best practice framework for music in
schools.

·Appointing a Commonwealth Education
minister who then seeks the agreement of the
COAG Education Council in requiring schools and systems to report on their
music education activity annually from 2017.

·Adopting a variation on TEMAG
recommendation (Rec 18) that teacher-training institutions provide students
with the opportunity to specialise in a STEM subject and an
arts subject – namely Music. Effectively STEMM. Meaning that in the medium term the teacher
training institutions and teacher registration bodies are training and
accrediting sufficient graduate teachers with the requisite skills in music to
achieve the goal of universal provision; P – 8 Classroom music, instrumental
music experts and ensemble teachers.

sMAG would
be happy to provide you with any additional information or documentation you
may require.World’s best practice shows
us that music should be a core component of every curriculum and should be
available to every student.We ask for your
support to make this vital educational reform a reality.

Mission Statement

sMAG (Vic) works cooperatively with the State and Federal governments, Universities and the music sector to ensure that the recommendations of the NRSME are adopted and implemented throughout the State of Victoria

Purpose

* To promote high quality school music education in all schools in Victoria
* To be a representative voice from all sectors supporting music education in schools
* To promote the value and status of school music education throughout the Victorian education sector and in the wider community
* To comment as appropriate upon matters relating to school music education
* To encourage and assist societies and organisations concerned with school music education and the professional development of teachers
* To promote singing as a foundation for developmental music education programs in all early childhood, primary and secondary settings
* To promote the inclusion of continuous sequential and developmental music study into the VELS
To promote the expansion of pre-service education and ongoing professional development of teachers to meet the needs of the delivery of high quality music teaching

Followers

Blog Space

A community discussion space aimed to inform the current debate in the National Curriculum development for Music. Followers are encouraged to read the linked documents in order to contribute.

“Music has a power of forming the character, and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young.” Aristotle.

sMAG

The School Music Action Group (sMAG) was formed immediately following the Victorian Music Workshop in April 2007. sMAG brings together representatives of the key music education community including teachers and principals as well as representatives from the tertiary music and education sectors music/arts bodies and the music industry.

The purpose of sMAG is to unify the music education sector and its stakeholders.